I love how people latch on to this issue. It's a classic bait n switch. Romney ran in 2008 Right. So he would have had to release his 2 years worth. When he didn't get the nod in 08 , he being like all politicians an ego maniac, would have known he was going to try to run again in 2012. Do ya think he would really have done anything that would ruin his chances for 12 on something as simple as taxes??? NO. Romney (blech) is dangling this whole tax issue out there keeping Obama and the rest of you idiots focused on that. Watch him a month before the elections release more years. Probably back as far as 06. Then what??? All that time, money and effort wasted on a non issue. It's a damn good strategy. And yall are falling all over yourselves like a bunch of fools.

You MAY be right - I don't think so
but
but why did he NOT release his 2010 FBAR
If he was "smart enough" to keep his "tax" clean, why did he take a $77,000 business deduction for his wife's hobby horse?
How did his IRA grow to over $50,000,000?

Duncan Black, an economist who blogs under the name Atrios, wrote something provocative the other day:

"As I've said many times, what's fascinating about the what's-in-Romney's-tax-returns story is that the man who has been running for president forever (presumably) could never bring himself to conduct his finances in such a way so as to make it politically possible for him to release the damn things."

It's a real good point. Romney did release one year of tax returns, but that's hardly enough to defuse the issue. I assume that Romney knew that his wealth would be an issue in the campaign, one that he would have to deflect somehow. If he'd released the rest of his returns back in, say, April, that whole kerfuffle would be over and done with right now - unless, of course, something was amiss with the returns.

I have been assuming that something was amiss. In an era when presidential candidates routinely release their income tax returns, Romney must have known this issue would come up. It seems reasonable to infer that he made a calculated decision that stonewalling on the matter would be preferable to showing the world how he was making and disposing of his money.

The phrase "Cayman Islands" leaps to mind. I don't know, of course, but Romney has created the sort of vacuum that speculation rushes to fill.

Harry Reid, the senator from Nevada and Senate majority leader, tried to bait Romney into releasing his returns by claiming that someone from Bain Capital told him that Romney had paid no taxes at all for several years. Romney reacted immediately and strongly, saying that Reid should "put up or shut up."

Perhaps not the most felicitous turn of phrase. It's really Romney who should put up - unless, of course, his returns are too outrageous. Because this is an issue that's not going away.

The pillaging of this nation by investment bankers and their ilk is a national disgrace. The failure of the government to prosecute a large percentage of the offenders is distressing. Even worse is the notion that the tax laws are written in such a way that they allow people like Mitt Romney to pay less in taxes than someone earning $52,000 somewhere in the depths of Mega-Corp Inc.

Romney is part of the 1 percent, and the 1 percent have not shown themselves to be patriots. Subprime mortgages ate this nation alive just a few years ago, and subprimes were just a game played by bankers. We have not recovered from the damage they did.

They wiggled and weaseled and lied their way into immense profits. Enough of their stories have become public that we have some sense of how they went about it - and no confidence at all that they're not going to keep doing it for as long as they can.